This week there was terribly sad news coming out of Japan when former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed by an assassin. As time goes by the security officials who were protecting him are now being questioned for their part in the event.
Below is one of the first videos showing the shooter. At this point Abe was still reportedly alive.
#ShinzoAbe #安倍さん
Offender, 41-year-old Japanese national Tetsue Yamagami, served in the Navy.
With a homemade double-barreled gun, 2 shots, hit the lung. Abe in critical condition. pic.twitter.com/oS9QTQbQgK— Random Cassette (@RandomCassette) July 8, 2022
This video shows Abe hearing the first shot and then turning towards the killer and getting shot with the second round.
There are some questions about whether Abe’s security could have done a better job in stopping the shooter, especially after he fired the first round.
The suspect who shot and killed Shinzo Abe. #RIP The bodyguards literally didn’t do anything to stop him. pic.twitter.com/trZdWC337d
— Invictus To (@Invictrous) July 8, 2022
The BBC reports:
Japanese police have admitted there were flaws in the security for former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead in the southern city of Nara on Friday.
“It is undeniable that there were problems in the security,” said Nara police chief Tomoaki Onizuka.
A gunman opened fire on Abe at a political campaign event – a crime that has profoundly shocked Japan.
A motorcade carrying Abe’s body has arrived at his home in Tokyo.
Police say the suspect, named as Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, held a grudge against a “specific organisation”. He believed Abe was part of it, they said.
Yamagami has admitted shooting him with a homemade gun, according to police.
“The urgent matter is for us to conduct a thorough investigation to clarify what happened,” police chief Onizuka said, without specifying where he saw failings. He was on the verge of tears, addressing journalists.
Japanese media quote sources close to the investigation, who say Yamagami believed Abe to be linked to a religious group which, Yamagami alleged, had ruined his mother financially.
Yamagami told police he had served in Japan’s navy, the Maritime Self-Defense Force, for three years. More recently, he had worked at a factory in western Japan.
As a hearse carrying Abe’s body arrived at his residence in Tokyo, members of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), dressed in black, lined up to pay their respects.
